The present invention relates generally to crop harvesting machines having a laterally shiftable tongue and, more particularly, to a transport trailer for transporting the harvester in a lateral orientation to minimize transport width.
Generally, harvesting equipment, particularly hay harvesting equipment, has been manufactured with a transverse width that would permit transport thereof over the highway and through farm gates rearwardly of its prime mover. Although the hay harvesting machines commonly referred to as pivot tongue windrowers, such as the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,946 granted on April 4, 1978, to Philip J. Ehrhart, were generally wider in a transverse direction than previous pull-type hay harvesting machines, the centrally mounted pivoted drawbar permitted a towing of the harvester directly behind the prime mover in a centrally located position and, therefore, transport of the harvester in a normal orientation was not prohibited.
However, increasing transverse widths of such harvesting machine prefers the harvester from being towed over the highway and through restrictive openings behind the prime mover in a normal orientation, necessitating the provision of alternate means of transporting the harvester. Two methods of transporting agricultural implements in a transverse orientation, which narrows overall transport width because of the longitudinal length of the machines is less than its transport width, can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,962,853 and 3,721,461. Such apparatus requires a movement of wheels, hitches, jacks, etc. to equip the harvester for movement in a transverse direction, including the disconnection and reconnection of appropriate hitches in the prime mover.
The provision of a pivot tongue harvester with a laterally extendible drawbar, as disclosed in Applicant's copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 652,365, filed Sept. 19, 1984, U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,560, permits the harvester to be mounted on the trailer, permitting a transportion of the harvester in a lateral orientation by utilizing the drawbar of the harvester as the hitch connection. Such a trailer utilizes transversely extending load ramps to permit the harvester to be elevated from the ground onto the load platform of the trailer. It would be desirable to provide a means for raising these load ramps to a transport position when the harvester has been properly positioned on the platform of the trailer without requiring additional operator input.